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Detroit Lakes seeking new at-large alderman

The Detroit Lakes City Council accepted Alderman At Large Matt Brenk's resignation Wednesday night, in preparation for his new title of mayor. Now the council is opening Brenk's position up for a new alderman.

Because of the city charter, Mayor Larry Buboltz said the council has the ability to fill the alderman at large position "basically any way they wish."

The way the city is choosing to do so is simple.

The city has opened the position to all applicants in the city of Detroit Lakes -- since the seat is at large, it doesn't matter what ward the applicant is from -- until Nov. 26 at 5 p.m.

Applicants are asked to submit a resume, list of experience and an essay as to why they wish to serve on the council.

At the start of December, the city council aldermen will review the applications and rank them in what order they would like to see the candidates hired.

From there, the mayor and city administrator Bob Louiseau will get together and add up the rankings, and the top three to five people will have a chance to interview for the position.

Then, on Dec. 15-18, the council and city staff will interview the candidates, a process that is open to the public.

The final decision will come before the council Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. during a special council meeting to recommend who will fill the position of alderman at large.

Alderman Bruce Imholte said that if those who ran for the Nov. 4 election, but lost, choose to apply for the position, they should be given special consideration since they took the initiative to publicly run for office in the first place.